Steve Kerr after the Warriors’ small-ball victory over Milwaukee: “Draymond (Green) has a lot of Dennis Rodman in him”

OAKLAND–I’ll make this quick, in the wake of the Warriors’ 102-93 victory over the Bucks at Oracle Arena tonight…

The Warriors went small (again), which cued a rally back from a second-half deficit (again), and the defensive ferocity and offensive flow was highlighted by Draymond Green (again, again, again), Andre Iguodala and–most interestingly of all–Shaun Livingston.

Coach Steve Kerr once again played only seven guys in the second half, subbing only Livingston and Iguodala and going with Green at center for most of the final quarter-and-a-half.

The result: Livingston played 27 minutes total, including a big span in the fourth quarter as the point guard with Stephen Curry as the shooting guard, and that helped set Curry up for a typical Curry 3-3-3 surge that pumped the Warriors up to a 10-point lead.

Folks, this is essentially the Warriors’ playoff rotation now.

Livingston backs up both Curry and Thompson and when he’s playing with Curry that gets Curry off the ball and running around screens at the wings.

Iguodala backs up Barnes and sometimes plays power forward, too.

Green plays a ton of minutes (40 tonight) and backs up and sometimes finishes at center. Green, as Kerr repeatedly points out, is the key to this–he can guard big, he can switch and guard small, and he also moves the ball around on offense and when he’s hitting 3s, as he was tonight, the Warriors are electric in every way.

And when the Warriors go small, they get going so fast that Kerr almost has to finish with that group.

–Bogut is going to get major minutes because he’s the defensive anchor, obviously, and sets crunching screens, helps initiate the offense and can finish over big players.

–And there will be cameos by David Lee and maybe Justin Holiday and Leandro Barbosa in the first half, maybe a little bit of Marreese Speights and/or Festus Ezeli/

–But when it gets rough, and if the opponent isn’t huge, the Warriors will finish small.

And Green, Iguodala and Livingston will be in the middle of a lot of it.

For the third straight game, Lee didn’t play in the second half. Speights and Barbosa (still a little sick) didn’t play at all. Holiday got a few minutes only in the first half and was -7 in the plus-minus in that time.

Which is another reason I don’t think the Warriors should be or really are that interested in free agent center JaVale McGee.

Why add yet another big man who won’t play when the Warriors are going their best and fastest?

Here are some snippets from a good Kerr post-game presser…

* Kerr on going to small ball to close the second halves of the last three games, including this one: “We don’t necessarily want to, but we feel like we’re really good at it. And Draymond allows us to do that, along with Andre and Harrison.

“But Draymond’s sort of the key guy because he can play the 5. Looked at some numbers today, when Draymond is at the 5, our defensive rating is just off the charts, like 87.5 per 100 possessions. To give you some context, we’re No. 1 in the league overall, we’re at I think a defensive rating of 98 points allowed per 100 possessions… When Draymond’s at the 5, that number is 87.5. It’s crazy.

“Small ball is the way everyone’s going and it’s good for us; we’re good at it.”

* Kerr on Curry’s 9-point explosion in just over a minute early in the fourth quarter, which stretched the Warriors’ lead from 76-73 to 85-75: “Steph had that spurt, which was remarkable. You know, Steph had arguably one of his worst games of the year going. And then in the span of about, I don’t know… three threes.

“But that’s Steph. That’s why he’s Steph Curry. I used to watch it with Michael Jordan, on nights when he’s missed 10 shots in a row and everybody else would just clam up, he’d just all of a sudden find it and that incredible confidence is unbreakable. And Steph has that and that’s what makes it special.”

* Kerr on playing Livingston more with Curry and giving Curry time essentially as a two-guard without handling the ball and whether this is his three-guard rotation right now: “It is right now; we’ll sprinkle in Justin and LB. LB’s been sick the last week, which is why I haven’t played him the last couple games.

“But against a team like Milwaukee that’s going to blitz Steph a lot on those high screens and take the ball out of his hands, it’s great to be able to go Shaun and have him handle it and run Steph off of screens, just to give the defense a different look.

“Shaun’s been playing so well. I generally just give minutes to guys who are performing and playing well. And giving Shaun a chance to play with Steph and Klay the last few games has obviously brought out the best in him. He’s been fantastic.

“So I really like to give him that opportunity–not just back-up Steph but to play with him; Shaun’s an excellent passer and cutter. When the game goes small like it did tonight, Shaun is perfect, because it’s a passing and cutting game. There’s no rim-protection. He’s one of the best cutters in the league; that dunk he got was off of a weak-side cut, was beautiful.”

* Kerr on whether he remembers another team went small to get better defensively: “When I played in Chicago, that was an excellent defensive team and we put Rodman at the 5 sometimes. And I’d usually be off the floor (smiles).

“And we’d have, like, Harper, Jordan, Pippen, Rodman and maybe Toni Kukoc or another wing guy. And that team was phenomenal defensively.

“I think Draymond has a lot of Dennis Rodman in him. He defies positions, he guards anybody, he’s quick enough to stay in front of point guards; he’s big and strong and tough at the rim and rebounds like crazy.

“Again, this is the way the league is changing–I mean, Brooklyn has entirely changed their style since the beginning of the year when we played them. They’re playing one big and four smalls and they’re switching everything on the perimeter.

“So to survive in this league you have to have the versatility with your wings and also your bigs, and we have a lot of those guys. Our roster is really good for that kind of stuff. And Draymond obviously, as I said, kind of sets the tone.”

* Kerr on whether the Warriors could and maybe should close games with the small line-up even if the opponent is playing bigger: “Yeah, we have done it. We generally like to have Bogut at the rim for defense, that’s when we’re at our best, when we can switch everything but still have the rim protection.

“But yeah, we can do it to other teams as well if we choose. You know, it takes a lot out of guys to play that way; it really is taxing.

“So I would rather use it in spurts, which we try to do, then do it the whole game. But it’s definitely a weapon that we can use against other teams, too, not just react to other teams.”

* Kerr on another DNP for Marreese Speights and zero second-half minutes for David Lee: “It’s just match-ups. We’ve played three games in a row against teams that have gone super small. It’s a tough match-up for Mo, tough match-up for David Lee, that’s the way it goes.

“As a coach it’s no fun playing those guys because they’ve had great years and they can help us in a lot of cases. But when the game gets to this style, we’re just better off going with Draymond and Harrison and even Andre at the 4.”

* Kerr on whether there was any birthday celebration for Green: “I tried to get the guys to sing happy birthday for him before the game and he wouldn’t let them. Whatever Draymond says, goes. So…”

* Kerr on Andre Iguodala’s role in the small line-up: “Andre is just a slightly smaller version of Draymond–he guards anybody. We had him at the 4 for most of the fourth quarter when I took Harrison out. Harrison looked a little gassed and I took him out.

“Just stayed with Andre because he guards anybody and plays the passing lanes. When you play a small game, you have to be able to read and react and anticipate and there’s nobody in the league better than Andre at that. He reads everything; he sees things before they happen. So he’s the perfect guy to have on the floor then.”

Still wondering why the Dubs are blowing leads (last night 14 points) and having to come back from large deficits. Yes, they’re winning a bunch but come playoff time this could be an issue.

Ernie

It’s the awful schedule they make the NBA players go through. 5th game in 7 days, so legs are tired and shots are short. All teams have to deal with it (Bucks were on back to back themselves), but games are closer now as punishing schedule is a great equalizer. Since there are no back to backs in playoffs it is hard to project this being a problem. Key will be clinching first in west with a week to go so team can be fresh.

qtlaw88

No one plays the passing lanes better than Iggy; his anticipation, knowledge of what guys want to do is phenomenal; he’s got to finish games; don’t want to see Barnes out there; just need Iggy to have confidence to shoot those pullups and finish at the rim (he’s making FTs now!)

Livingston looked electric last night; what a beautiful sight;

I love the switching D; that’s the best lineup the Ws have; its so obvious when teams make Lee guard the perimeter; he’s dreadful.

When its LIvingston/Iggy/Dray/Thompson/Steph; that’s pretty nice; even Holiday; but not Barnes, his footwork is too slow and he fouls too much.

Alec Safreno

Trust me, you want Barnes. His corner shooting percentage is ridiculous. His overall 3pt shooting percentage is the best on the team. He’s not the best defender one on one, nor does he have the handles (if Klay and Harrison learned to dribble, this team would be unstoppable!), but he rebounds really well, hustles and shoots the lights out of the 3 ball.

I love Justin Holiday, he’s one of my favorites on the team and would love to see him back in the rotation, but not over Barnes.

Alec Safreno

I’m happy seeing the rotation hammered out. There’s less of the David Lee, Mo Speights tandem being used in the last two games and Festus has started to crack the rotation. I’m okay with seeing David Lee on the floor with Festus as the center behind him, but Lee at center is a defensive nightmare. How do you be -19 in a blowout against the raptors?

Attempting not to veer off on a David Lee hating tangent, the small, switching defense is deadly and should be employed with the second unit. Since David Lee’s return, the second unit has looked to be more offense oriented, which I think is the reason behind the struggles in January and February. Emphasizing defense and pushing the ball in transition really gets the Warriors going and a switching defense can really facilitate that.

Which brings up really the final problem that’s affecting the Warriors right now. Teams have sniffed out a lot of their half court sets. It’s getting harder and harder to find back doors and easy shots in the half court offense. Bogut’s assist numbers have been down over the last few games and the dribble pitches don’t seem to be freeing the guards up like they use to.

JC

warriors and small ball.. sounds like the Don Nelson era all over again…

robin sachs

They just went through a grueling part of the schedule. Once they get rested up collectively they will be fine.

A small line up is fine for some teams, but against Cleveland or OKC, it will not do. As good as Igoudala is, James had him for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, midnight snack, and champagne brunch. Now that OKC has Cantor, 6’5″ at the 5 is not going to be on the court at the end of games in which Cantor, Ibaka, and Durant are playing. Likewise, you are not going to have Green be your biggest player on the court against Memphis.

The Warriors will have to find a way to beat teams that have big, athletic, strong 3-5’s.

robin sachs

I am no intellectual but I do understand basketball. The problems the

Warriors have had lately is fatigue. Whether it physical or mental or a combination. There are two things affected by fatigue, jump shots , and defense. If you look at statistics you will find in the last month the warriors defense and shooting percentage has faltered.
No amount of sniffing by other teams is a factor. Largely the

Warriors offense is based on their defense. Transition and fast breaks. Their offensive sets are fine but in recent games they have not knocked down their shots.
As far as the rotation goes it is determined by the type of game and the matchups.

Try watching the games and you will notice that there are different rotations for different teams. And as far as David Lee , there will come a time, a situation when his game will help get the team to another level.

The most important thing about basketball is it is a team game. Not just offense but on defense also. No one player can be blamed for bad defense because it takes the team to play good defense. Same on offense.

qtlaw88

No one was stopping James that night; that was peak James. As TK just tweeted out, the Ws have a great D whether smalls, or big with Bogut.

sarchasmic

Because NellieBall was renowned for playing such stout defense ever.

Alec Safreno

Now this was a fantastic comment.

I’ll agree, fatigue has played a roll in the recent struggles; Klay’s shooting slump since All-Star is a perfect example of that. 4 games in 5 nights on the road is no easy task and they’ve done as well as can be expected. But there’s a difference between shooting slumps and shot selection. I’ll freely admit that I’m a shot hunter. I’m always looking for the perfect shot. So when I see the Warriors settling for quick or contested threes, unable to find lanes to attack the rim and get to the line, I get concerned. I’m not on an island here. Jerry West commented on how the Warriors shot selection wasn’t great going into All-Star, and while its improved, it hasn’t been fantastic. Warriors can push the pace and lock down when they go super small, but they can’t nor do they want to rely on that. They still have to be able to execute in the half court.

As fas as the rotation goes, personal is extremely important. That’s why rotations get tighter during the playoffs. You can absolutely blame a single person for offensive and defensive woes during the game. There are blackhole hero ball players and there are defensive liability players. David Lee is most definitely the latter and his struggles on offense haven’t gone unnoticed. How many times did David Lee try to get in on the switching defense last night only to get completely burned by a guard? You see David Lee in front of you and you drive right into the lane.

On offense he’s lost his shot, and his post game isn’t what it use to be. Throwing the ball into the post doesn’t guarantee two points from him anymore. With his lack of shot coming off the bench to team up with Shaun Livingston, another non shooting threat, clogs lanes. Have you watched the man set screens? Some of the softest screens ever set. It was his screens that allowed Blake Griffen and Chris Paul to show so hard on Steph last year during the playoffs.

David Lee doesn’t fit with the team anymore. This team is about spacing the floor and attacking the basket, about switching and helping at the right time. Its about versatility and David Lee isn’t versatile enough to contribute useful minutes during a playoff run.

Alec Safreno

Warriors have to find a balance. Forunately, is the Thunder roll with Ibaka, Kanter as their closing line up, the Warriors should be able to tear them up on offense. Kanter doesn’t play defense well, and Ibaka was shot hunt trying to make up or that. Drive and kick for an open three all day.

Memphis presents a bigger problem. That’s a situation where going small might not work. They’ve only played Memphis once, I’ll be eager to see how the Warriors match up with them again.

Jerry O’dell

Yeah it looked like LJ wanted to prove something that game. He looked like a beast. Though in the Playoffs… that LJ will show up if needed.

robin sachs

Good to hear you and Jerry Logo are tight.

BananaSpartan

I bet Klay works on his handle this summer. He’s improved something, immensely, each summer.

Barnes is still young and has a lot of upside. I think his athleticism will show up in the playoffs. I’d like to see a little more slashing from him, and hitting the offensive glass hard.

I agree, if the Warriors had them improve their handles, and both were consistently driving to the rim, getting to the foul line, it would be tremendous. Their team depth, and then putting the other team in foul trouble? Talk about exploiting matchups!

Alec Safreno

Here here! Another bad comment, I thought you’d turned the corner. The irony is that those comnents were made right here on the Tim Kawakami show!

robin sachs

I will go back to my first reply. You need to watch the games. My opinion comes from watching the games. Jerry West’s analysis of basketball is unsurpassed and there are few who are comparable. I do remember in the TK show him mentioning the formidable defense the Warriors have played has been lacking since before the break, Defense is the Warriors key. If they are not playing the smothering defense, offensive spacing, half court sets, “shot hunting” are insignificant. As was your prediction that Harrison Barnes would average 16 points a game this year. So the bottom line here is that the Warriors must play together as a team. It doesn’t matter who averages what, who scores. As a team they will succeed. And their first priority is to play that relentless defense.

Alec Safreno

More irony, of the 58 games played so far, I’ve missed 4 or 5. My opinions are based off of what I see critically. Its watching those games that allows me to sit down and see where the improvement needs to come from, the changes I’d like to see the Warriors take in order to reach the Championship.

I completely agree with you, defense is the key to all this. Playing passing and getting steals to fuel the break is a huge part of the Warrior style of basketball. The drop in defense occurred late December to early January. Upon David Lees return to the rotation, the Warriors began to move away from the switching defense that got them that 16 game win streak and more into a traditional show hard on the pick and rolls. I think absolute rock bottom was against Atlanta. For some reason the Warriors kept over helping off corner shooters and players like Mike Scott and Kent Bazemore were able to find wide open corner 3 shots. Going small against Boston was the first time Kerr has elected to move away from David Lee’s hedging defense and go back to the switching defense, somewhat by necessity. These last few games have shown why its so effective and why the Warriors should go with that kind of defense for the second unit.

A while the return of small ball for the Warriors is great, it doesn’t shore up any other deficiencies have. The starts are struggling. It was against the starters the Milwaukee and Boston made their runs. You can’t play the entire game in transition (unless you’re last year’s Suns team, damn they were fun to watch), half court sets need to be relied upon. I’m not 100% sure why half court offense is slumping; Klay’s slump certainly attributes to it. It’s still an issue that they need to address. Defense may be the key, but if they can’t score in the half court, the Championship will remain elusive.

Also, did you look through my past comments?! Damn man, thats commitment. While I was off base with how much Barnes would score a night, the kernel of that prediction was completely true: he’s having a complete turn around year.

“Look for him to either spot up for the long ball, attack the close out or be a one dribble attacker next year. He does those things in a well spaced system he’s going to be phenomenal.”

Tell me that’s not what Barnes is doing this year!

robin sachs

Finding past comments is quite easy with Disquis. While I respect and agree with some of your analysis, I believe what you are seeking is perfection.As your shot hunter comment. suggests. Your critical analysis is like micro managing and I think you need to look at the bigger picture.
Funny how David Lee is your whipping boy when he once was your star. It will be his ability to post up and score in the paint that will make him a vital asset in the half court game if it comes down to that. But the match ups have to be correct for that to happen.
The games I watch are mostly broadcast from out of our market broadcasters. They marvel at the ability of the Warriors defense to switch. Coach Kerr mentions this often. While this presents a problem on the pick and roll for David Lee and Andrew Bogut they also need defensive rotation to help them out when they present help. Thus tightening up the team defense.
Harrison Barnes has had a rebound year and Klay Thompson is in a shooting slump. And what I see on offense is the reliance of the jump shot instead of penetration to the hoop which opens up the offense. Relying on the jump shot is a way to conserve energy which is a mistake because it takes away from movement. Just ask Lebron James that was the story of his finals last year.The Warriors have numerous players that can attack the rim and create passing lanes and easy scores.
As the team recuperates on this long homestand, I am sure that Coach Kerr will put the right players in position to succeed in their roles. Someone may not play three or four games in a row and than become the star of the next game.
I also believe that there is nothing to worry about as not only do the Warriors have an abundance of talented players they also have an abundance of talented coaches. I am confident of the coaching staff as they have more knowledge of the game than all the commenters put together. It is their ability to have the team play as a team and win games that will ultimately bring more success to the Warriors. Any individual statistic is inconsequential.However as of today Harrison Barnes is second percentage wise in three point shooting.

RR

I will take it one step further with Barnes: he is miserable handling the ball. You can write it down for a turnover if Lee or Barnes dribble in the paint. Even at half court he seems to have little knowledge where the defender is behind him. But he has a huge upside, is really athletic, is going to the basket more and the Ws need him big time in the playoffs.

Alec Safreno

I trying to express what I think are potential weaknesses come playoffs. I want to see the Warriors take it all, and I’ll admit that I’d like them to be as perfect as possible when they get there. It may not realistic, but I’m going to continue to comment on what I feel they need to do to get better.

The Warriors only switch when the longer defenders are in. Dray, Iggy, Harrison, Klay, even Justin Holiday need to be in the game in order to properly execute the switching defense. With Bogut, they ice screens, funneling pick and roll ball handlers towards the big man. With David Lee, they use to hedge and show hard on picks. Switching is the most disruptive to an offense. It completely negates any action made by the offense. Pin downs, single doubles, down screens all don’t be anything when the defender will never get left behind. Their second unit defense as been struggling since David Lee’s return. His return has messed up the rotation and completely changed the defensive identity of the second unit.

There was a moment that I thought David Lee could be an insanely good addition to the second unit, but after watching him play, its a struggle to root for him.

The Warriors can get reliant on shooting, Klay’s answer to a shooting slump is more shooting. He hasn’t learned to use the threat of his shot to his advantage. They struggle to attack and create passing lanes, the truth is after Curry, the Warriors have Iggy and Barbosa as people that can actually break down defenders either one on one or out of the pick and roll. I’m not expecting that to change this year, but it does speak to the effect that the Warriors need to execute in the half court in order to be successful.

robin sachs

I will stick with Steve Kerr’s explanation.After all he is the coach. He Knows more than you. Have a nice day.

Mike Lyons

The Spurs were able to neutralize James last year. James was on the bench early 4th quarter.

Scott Dinh

I love Green, I hope the Warriors do everything they can to hold into that little gems.